Tyra Banks Teases ‘Next Level’ Season 29 of ‘Dancing With the Stars’: ‘It’s Gonna Be Different’

Tyra Banks is ready to put her own spin on Dancing With the Stars. The supermodel was announced as the new host of the hit ABC series after hosts Tom Bergeron and Erin Andrews were let go, and teased what kind of “next level” antics fans can expect from the upcoming 29th season on Wednesday’s Good Morning America.

“It is gonna be so next level. I am having meetings with the producer that I walked in to join, Andrew Llinares, and… he’s like, ‘Tyra, you just don’t know. It’s gonna be next level,’” she said during Wednesday’s interview. “We’re doing all this crazy stuff, taking to the next level, but still keeping the stuff that we know America loves. But you need to get ready, ’cause it’s gonna be different.”

Banks is no stranger to hosting high-profile shows, cutting her teeth on TV with America’s Next Top Model. Dancing With the Stars, however, is a whole new challenge. “You never know what happens on live TV,” she said. “Like right now, my phone literally just rang and I was like, ‘Oh my God, I’m about to be on live TV.’ So excited about all of that.”

The actress and model never shies away from a challenge, which she will face as DWTS‘ first solo host. “I like breaking those doors down, so that we don’t have anymore firsts,” she continued. “But it’s nice to be first, right? So you can open that door and let so many people in after you. I’m excited!”

As for any requirements she has of contestants, Banks joked it would be “required” for dancers to use their signature smize used. “However, I think there’s something like a whip and smize,” she said, flipping her hair to smile with her eyes at the camera. “We need to see who’s going to be able to whip and smize.”

Banks couldn’t let viewers in on what contestants would be competing this season, going so far as to say she could neither confirm nor deny that Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, was approached to compete. “I don’t know if he would do this right now. But I can imagine, once we have our cure, once we have our vaccine, I don’t know, he might have to come on and do a little cha-cha-cha to celebrate,” she said of Fauci’s role in the search for a COVID-19 vaccine.